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Rodney Liuzzo
But before we get started, I want to throw out a special thanks to Blue Mountain Bikes for allowing me to steal their demo bike for an extended ride for this review. They were really supportive of the relaunch and my transition back into riding regularly again. Thanks again guys.
When it comes time to clear obstacles and hit jumps, the plush suspension is very responsive to pop and has a great spring off lips and faces. This really makes you want to move the bike around and clear sections for faster descents. The landings are incredibly stable and the lower center of gravity again aids the bike in transitions.
My last blog post was a review of Divergent; the first of the trilogy which I absolutely loved. It was with this same enthusiasm that I started Insurgent, the film adaptation of which has been recently released in the cinema.
This novel is completely different to that of Divergent. The action takes a much darker tone and there is plenty of betrayal and plotting by every character to keep you thoroughly interested. Roth has deeply explored the boundaries of the relationship between Four and Tris, showing that a life on the run from a faction seeking their demise is no condition for the successful maintenance of a relationship.
But if we are talking romance, despite their fights and occasional total wrong choices when it comes to protection, etc. I found that Tris and Tobias have a relationship built on mutual respect and love. I like the way it changes over the course of the books, and the ways in which they are both there for each other and sometimes let each other down.
Review: I read Divergent soon after it was published and I really loved it. But by the time Insurgent came out, I was feeling some pretty strong dystopia fatigue, and somehow never got around to reading it. I checked it out of the library twice, even, but then got distracted by contemporary realism or adult fiction or something and had to return it before reading. But with the excitement surrounding the release of Allegiant and my genuine excitement when I saw the movie trailer re-inspired me, and I finally read the sequel.
At one point, Brianna and I discussed reviewing sequels, and we decided that we only would if we felt that we had something different to say about the series after reading a follow up than we did in our first review. And after reading both of these books, I definitely felt that I had new things to talk about than I did in that first review. And I knew I wanted to talk about these two books together. But now I find myself in a tricky position of writing a thoughtful, analytic review of these two books I loved, that cover a ton of content, without giving away spoilers.
1) Young people have a ton of agency. When society as they have always known it starts to fall apart, we find our young protagonists in positions of real power and change. And they are respected for their abilities and intelligence, not just as symbols of a movement.
Well, I finished Insurgent, the second installment in the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth. Last week, Chebk and I both reviewed Divergent (you can read the rant and the sane review, but we encourage both for you to understand our reluctance going into this endeavor), but this has now become a solo project and it is a TRIAL, friends. Especially since I recently learned there is some kind of prequel, entitled Four, which I really do not want to read. :((((
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My response to Insurgent seems to have been different from that of the majority of its readers. I was disappointed to find that toughness and competitiveness, two of the traits I liked best in Tris when I read Divergent, were largely absent from her portrayal in Insurgent.
Then that conflict was abruptly dropped and the bone of contention between Tris and Tobias morphed from her failure to trust him to her (according to Tobias) recklessly and needlessly risking her life.
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Insurgent was made for those who plowed through the Divergent literary series months in advance, including the Four prequel, and others just curious to understand the hype that surrounds it. Some consider The Divergent Series a weak knockoff of The Hunger Games. I refute this. Both Beatrice Prior and Katniss Everdeen can live on in the recesses of our minds as formidable, female, fictional protagonists, surviving a Dystopian existence, and for that, I have welcomed the two with open arms.
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Clearly, the DIVERGENT series is largely light fare, where a lot of character development does not occur. The story arc is derivative of other post Apocalypse writings and is simplified for young adult readers and viewers. That said, the screenplays are a little thought provoking in places and generally a lot of fun, particularly the first two films DIVERGENT and INSURGENT.
I am delighted that some of the films I missed on the theatre go-round are streaming now. I watched Knives Out last night (quite enjoyable), and am planning to watch The Lighthouse, Seberg, and Gretl and Hansel, all of which you reviewed :).
In my review of Divergent, the opening installment of the four-movie series of which Insurgent is the second part, I wrote the following: "As an entry point into a new world, Divergent provides a worthwhile portal. This is the kind of reality and society that, upon closer examination, could become compulsively watchable." Indeed, Divergent seemed like set-up for a big, bold story that I expected to be told (at least in part) in Insurgent. Unfortunately, instead of forming the backbone of the series' narrative trajectory, Insurgent feels like filler. Not a lot happens during the course of the movie's 119-minute running time and much of what does happen is disappointingly generic. Insurgent is far too long for the minimal plot it encapsulates, features little in the way of meaningful character development, and is riddled with instances of poorly conceived, contrived developments.
The film's focal point is this world's equivalent of a Chinese puzzle box: an impervious container that can only be opened by a so-called Divergent who is strong in all five disciplines (Erudite, Dauntless, Abnegation, Amity, and Candor) and can prove it by succeeding at various cyber challenges. It's a silly concept and Insurgent's clumsy execution does little to convince us that it's not merely a McGuffin. Former Erudite leader-cum-Evil Dictator Jeanine (Kate Winslet) is in possession of the box and believes its secrets will validate her strong-arm tactics. So she locates and captures Tris (Shailene Woodley), the only Divergent with a "100% Divergence" rating. This leads to series of drawn-out virtual reality games in which Tris plays second fiddle to special effects. These sequences resemble levels in a video game and are devoid of any sort of suspense or tension (dramatic or otherwise). They pad the length and bore the viewer.
There's other stuff going on, as well. The fugitives who fled the city at the end of Divergent are searching for a way to return to overthrow Jeanine. To that end, Four (Theo James) is forced into an uneasy alliance with his previously-thought-to-be-dead mother, Evelyn (Naomi Watts). The love story between Tris and Four is thrown onto the back burner, although the two canoodle a little before engaging in PG-13 sex. Whatever chemistry may have existed between lead actress Shailene Woodley and hunky Theo James has vanished between films. They're about as connected as the miscast leads in 50 Shades of Grey. Tris must also deal with betrayal - her brother, Caleb (Ansel Elgort), and the duplicitous Peter (Miles Teller), align with Jeanine. (Both actors, incidentally, have played Woodley's lovers in previous films - Teller in The Spectacular Now and Elgort in The Fault in Our Stars.)
One of many disappointments in Insurgent is the way the screenplay treats Tris. Although some may feel it unfair to compare Woodley's character to Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss in The Hunger Games series, it's fitting because the two have much in common. However, whereas Katniss evolved to command the screen in the second chapter of her saga, Tris regresses. At times, she feels like a secondary character in Insurgent and there's little evidence of growth or forward momentum. Woodley is a fine actress and the character remains sympathetic but Tris fails to leave an indelible mark. Many of the other cast members, including Kate Winslet and Naomi Watts, are on hand for reasons other than satisfying a creative urge, leaving it to Miles Teller to steal scenes with his smirking, morally ambiguous performance.
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